


Reverberates & Rebounds

by Jiri (badwolfparadox)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfparadox/pseuds/Jiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her words fell on death ears as once again. She was responsible for him. She was the only one who could take care of him. She didn’t mind it, not one bit. She knelt, picking up the pieces of glass with her hands. </p><p>So why did this feel like the end?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reverberates & Rebounds

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sort of Momoi centered fic that suddenly popped in my head one day as I peeped a fanart of Momoi and Aomine. I thought of the song Just Be Friends and I thought holy shit this could totally apply to Momoi and oh man.   
> Please also note that JBF is sung from the boy’s perspective.

”Aomine-kun wait!” 

Her words fell on death ears as once again, Aomine merely walked out of the gym without a care. Already she could hear Sakurai in the background apologizing again and again. Aomine had broken the the backboard in his carelessness and now pieces of glass littered the wooden floors. As usual, he left his messes for Momoi to clean up. She sighed to herself and went to apologize herself. She was responsible for him. She was the only one who could take care of him. She didn’t mind it, not one bit. She knelt, picking up the pieces of glass with her hands as Sakurai ran to go get a broom and dustpan.  
This was her job.

So why did this feel strange, picking up the pieces. In fact, the whole day felt strange. She couldn’t be sure if it was with herself or with Aomine or just the morning itself. But something felt out of place. She tried to shake the feeling out of her head. But she gasped as she felt a prick. She looked down to see blood run down her hands from a cut on her palm.   
“Oh no, you should have been careful.” Said a voice behind her, “It’s unlike you not to be paying attention.”   
“Yeah…” Something didn’t feel right and the worst part was that she knew it. She looked up at the door Aomine left though and wondered where had they had gone wrong. 

I remembered early yesterday morning   
Why do I feel   
As if I’m gathering piece of broken glass? Blood drips from my cut fingers   
I wonder if we wanted to do these kinds of things

“There you are!” Momoi yelled at Aomine, laying down on the floor of the roof, “It took me forever to find you Dai-chan! Why did you cut the last two periods?”  
She got a grumble in reply. “Thought I told you to stop calling me that.”  
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I was asking and you know it.” She watched him grumble again as he shifted and got up. He walked over toher, looming over her, casting a dark shadow over her.   
“I waited for you, didn’t I?”

A dark blush tinted her cheeks and she looked away. She closed her eyes as she felt lips press on her cheek. Their relationship was a secret from everyone that they knew. She told herself that it was a mutual agreement. After all, she didn’t want to break it to Kukoro after all. Aomine didn’t seem to keen on everyone else finding out either. A mutual agreement. She wasn’t entirely sure how their relationship even began. It just sort of happened.

Of course it was as if things remained the same. She still took care of him and watched over him. He still needed her in the same way. In fact their relationship only had the extra bonus of being closer physically. Other than that, what else was there to change? She wanted to tell the others. She wanted them to share in her joy. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She didn’t understand why it hurt, being like this. No, that wasn’t right. She knew exactly why.

It didn’t feel real. 

But she couldn’t talk to Aomine about it. He wasn’t quite the talking-out-feelings type. Maybe she could confide in Kuroko. Maybe just in the moment, she could push down her pride and her own still lingering feelings for Kuroko and talk with him. She could only hope. So for in the meantime, she walked with Aomine out of the school building and soon their separate ways. She tried not to think about how cold her hand felt in his. 

I already knew deep inside my heart   
That the most painful choice would be the best   
My self-love refuses it and as a result, self-contradiction repeats   
I wonder when we can talk

Momoi didn’t know what was wrong with her today. She had set off to where she knew Kuroko would be. Her aim was to get those bad thoughts out of her head. He would know what to say to her. He could say the right thing. But she just stood there. There he was, in Maji Burger, sipping on a vanilla shake and watching as Kagami blabbed on about something. His other friends were there too, the ones from his school. He seemed happy there. It wasn’t like the last days of the Generation of Miracles. There was some light in the shadow’s eyes. She wanted to be happy for him. 

But she wasn’t.

Only jealousy filled her. She was robbed of her love, her fate with the light blue-haired boy. Her dream ending was taken away from her the moment he went to this school and decided to stay with Aomine. She settled for Aomine. She wished silently for being able to go back to the days when they first met. And the moment she thought it, she felt disgusted with herself. How could she think such a thing? She had no right. She lifted a hand to rub her cheek and turn away from the place, stopping once she felt something wet. Tears? Still, after all this time? She should have been stronger than that. She rubbed her eyes quickly before rushing off and back home. Yet she didn’t notice the pair of eyes on her. 

Fate that allowed us to meet   
The darkness interrupts countless and relentless time   
“So this is how it is…” I murmured   
Somebody’s tears flow down dried cheeks

The creak of the rusted swingset was the only sound that could be heard in the playground. Practice was canceled due to the hoop having to get repaired and so Momoi found herself with nothing to do. A quiet Saturday following her quiet night. She wasn’t sure why she brought herself here, to this playground. She merely sat on the swingset, arms wrapped around the chains and picked the petals off of a flower she found. A familiar childhood game. “He loves me… He loves me not…” She sang out loud, rocking back and forth. 

She heard footsteps and looked up, only to be greeted by Aomine. “Looks like I’m the one finding you, huh?” She chuckled tossing the flower to the side without bothering to pick the last three petals once he sat on the swing next to her. They talked for a bit, about nothing important. But their conversation felt empty. It felt more like a conversation between strangers. 

“Dai-chan, I think you are changing on me.” He looked at her in surprise before shrugging.   
“I haven’t changed at all. Are you sure you aren’t the one that changed?”

She looked at him, eyes wide from his statement. He didn’t look like he was joking. But what could he have meant from that? She chuckled, preferring the joke option. “Ahaha, no way. I’m still the same girl that you knew way back when.” Her empty laughter filled the cool air before drifting off. Silence again. Something about this silence though she couldn’t bear. She got up suddenly and made an excuse before rushing off the playground, leaving Aomine alone. She didn’t turn back to see the lack of flower petals on the ground. 

I realized at yesterday’s quiet night   
That even if I pick up the fallen flower leaves   
It won’t bloom back to its original form   
The small death on top of my hands   
Our time is frozen still

“A text from Aomine-kun?”  
“That’s what it says on your phone!” The girl handed over the slim pink phone, showing that she wasn’t lying.   
Momoi could probably count all the times Aomine texted her first on one hand. His text simply said “Meet me at the street court. You know which one.” Of course he meant the court where they first became friends. The place where they found out they had a shared love of basketball. She remembered it fondly. But she had to wonder. Why would he want to meet there of all places? It sounded oddly romantic and very uncharacteristic of him. Something about this felt strange. But she ignored it. Whether it was like him or not, it still felt romantic. 

And so she found herself on the court, watching Aomine casually shoot hoops into the basket. Swish. He made it look easy, like a child could do it. Well he was a child when he started, so it wasn’t a surprise to her. It felt just like the time when they were kids. She was amazed with his skills even then. It was a simpler time back then. Somehow growing up changed things. Especially things between them.

She wasn’t sure if it was for the worse or for the better. 

“Dai-chan, why did you want to meet here?” She dared to ask. She saw him hesitate before shooting the ball through the hoop one last time and turning to her. 

“I wanted to talk to you.”

What was this pain in her chest all of a sudden?

I remembered the season when we first met   
And your sweetly smiling face   
I push the present to the past and received the scars that we both got   
Our hearts are full of thorns

He had been the one to say it. He said it out loud and the very air felt heavy with his words. His words were direct and short, stabbing through her heart like arrows. He knew everything and used the information he knew to destroy Momoi where she stood. He knew about her lingering feelings for Kuroko. He knew she had settled for him. He even questioned why she even bothered in the first place. 

He said all the things she had been thinking all along. She opened her mouth to speak. She had to say something. Something, anything that could fix this. 

Anything that could stop whatever this was from happening. 

But only silence came out of her gaping mouth. Tears rolling down her cheeks, bluring her vision. She rubbed her eyes quickly, her heartbeat speeding up. Was this really happening? Was she sure that it wasn’t just a dream? But she looked up and saw his serious face, not even a hint of a joke in his eyes. Her heart wanted to explode right then and there. Yet she felt so empty. She was always coming to this, wasn’t she? 

Even in this frustratingly continuing relationship   
I sadly can’t change my heart   
I was loving you, I didn’t want to be apart from you   
But I have to say it  
The rain that pours on my heart   
Dazed and terrified, even my vision is blurry   
I anticipated the hurt   
But my body can’t move

She couldn’t help but yell. She screamed for all the world to hear. Or at least she wanted to. The only thing that fell on his ears was silence. Not that her shouts would have reached him anyways. Her throat closed up and she could barely manage a squeak. He continued on with his words, shedding some light on how he was feeling. All this time and she had no idea. He claimed that he settled for her. That he did this whole relationship thing for her sake. Because he felt like he owed it to her. He was “chained to her” as he put it. But he didn’t look at her as he said it.   
He could have been lying. 

But it didn’t sound like it. It only sounded like the truth. Simply because only the truth could hurt so much. 

I shouted until my voice was dry   
The echo reverberates in the empty air   
Although there was nothing left   
After the chains were removed

“I think we should end it. Us. Being together like this.” He said it so casually, like he was mentioning the weather.  
“B-but why? W-was it not good enough? Was I not good enough?” She couldn’t believe that she even asked that. But her heart wrenched in her chest. She just wanted some romance in her life. She sought it from Kuroko and was turned down, rejected. Now here she was with her last chance at it, and it was taken away from her again. She wanted to scream, to slap him, to punch him. To hurt him the way he hurt her. 

But she couldn’t. 

“It’s… It’s not that.” Was all he could manage in a reply.  
“Then what is it then? Why should we end it?”  
“…Because we changed. Not just me. Not just you. We both did.” He grimaced, cursing under his breath, “This was a kid’s dream, us two. And now we outgrew it.”

Such a mature response took Momoi by surprise. And like that everything she worked so hard for was undone. All the secrets and the hiding was faded away.

“It’s time we said goodbye to it really.”   
She looked down at the ground, tears plopping onto the pavement. But a smile creeped onto her face. It hurt to smile but she did anyways.  
“I suppose you’re right.” 

Fate that connected us   
Becomes undone and disappears into everyday life   
Goodbye my loved one… This is the end   
Now we look go on without looking back

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and a pair of lips press onto her forehead. She felt like pushing him away but she just stood there. Limp. He sighed and rested his chin on her head, looking off into space. They stood like this for a while, not saying anything to each other. They hadn’t been together long. Neither one of them should have made a big deal about it. But the way he held her, this was a big deal. They stood in the middle of the court, neither one of them knowing what to say next.  
It was Momoi who spoke up first. “So… This is really the end isn’t.”

“Yeah.”  
“…Good while it lasted?”  
“Yeah…” Silence again. “Momoi. Let’s just be friends from now okay?”  
“…Yeah. Just be friends.” 

The words echoed across the park and Momoi wasn’t quite sure who was more hurt about it all. 

Just be friends All we gotta do   
Just be friends It’s time to say goodbye  
Just be friends.


End file.
